


Sin With A Grin

by Dance_Elle_Dance



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-26
Updated: 2015-09-26
Packaged: 2018-04-23 11:05:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4874347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dance_Elle_Dance/pseuds/Dance_Elle_Dance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Garcia looks at him - really looks at him - and sees his smile. Bright, unfettered. It takes her breath away. She only wishes he'd smile more... (Originally posted on 12/23/10.0</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sin With A Grin

**Author's Note:**

> Another HotchGarcia. I really love the dynamic between these two. Please enjoy!

Nothing saddens Penelope Garcia more than seeing a completely attractive, handsome man who doesn't smile the appropriate amount.

Unfortunately, Aaron Hotchner fits that profile - excuse the pun.

Of course, Hotch has reason to be serious. Many, many reasons that Garcia would rather not bring up at the moment, but sometimes she can see just a bit of the happiness that he doesn't let show as often as he should. She knows he is happy. After all, he still has his son, and his team, which is a family in and of itself, and she just wants him to be able to smile for her, at least once a day. It's completely selfish and uncalled for, but she likes to see his smile.

Because, even when it's just a little smile, just a twitch of the lips, it lights up his whole face.

She sighs as her fingers flow across the keyboard in front of her. She gazes at the screen with intensity, almost not aware of the man's presence behind her. Yeah, _almost_. It's rather hard not to be aware of a man like Hotch's presence, and she finds herself struggling to stay on task rather than focus on the way his breath is slightly caressing the back of her neck, or the fact that he smells _incredible_.

Garcia also tries to ignore the fact that they are in his apartment.

Why? Well, let her elaborate.

It was just a normal night at her house. She was surfing online while watching the latest episode of _Glee_ and about to follow it up with the antics of that hottie vampire Damon on _The Vampire Diaries_ , when she got a call. It wasn't unusual. Sometimes Morgan would call her, check up on her to see how she's doing. She guesses that even after the whole shooting incident occurred, it caused him to become protective of her - even more so than he had already been. Sometimes Reid would call. Heck, she and Prentiss and JJ had once made a whole night out of one of the rare days when a case wasn't the focal point of their lives. They had arrived at her doorstep, sleeping bags and food in hand, with several scary movies.

(At this point, Garcia wonders if TV plays such a big role in her life - obviously, it does. But she digresses)

So, anyway, she had just turned off her computer and was turning up the volume on the television, when her cell rang.

Blinking in confusion, she reached over to her phone and picked it up without even looking at the name that flashed on the screen. "Yo, yo, yiggity yo, earthling!"

"Hey, Garcia."

Her muscles tensed up for the briefest of moments before the effects of that soothing, deep voice took her over, molding her into putty as if she were some kind of lovesick schoolgirl. "Oh, Hotch! To what do I owe this pleasure?" Then she had stopped. "Is there a case?" She looked at the clock - it read ten o'clock in the evening, and she really hoped a case wasn't the...well, _case_.

"I hope I'm not out of line, but my computer is having - " At that moment, Garcia could've sworn she heard a short-circuiting electronic in the background. She had winced as he continued. " - problems. I was wondering, if you're not too busy, if you could come take a look."

Garcia had only smiled, too happy to help. She couldn't imagine turning him down at something like this. Something that she could actually fix. He had helped her so many times before, that she wouldn't dare say no to him. "Of course, good sir. I will be at your place in a jiffy."

She was there in a matter of minutes, despite the fact that he lived quite a distance away from her.

"May I ask how you got here in under thirty minutes?"

"No, you may not." Garcia had smiled and walked into his humble abode.

And that was how she got here, hunched beside his computer like some kind of animal, working to try to find a problem with his otherwise pristine system. It was a rather taxing task.

She sighs as she tries yet another way to get the computer to work. It is a failure of epic proportions.

Garcia can hear Hotch as he whispers to himself, lightly, in that husky tone of his. She only catches parts of the words, "...don't know what I could've done..."

"Talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity, ya know."

There is an amused tone to his voice when he answers, "Consider me insane, then."

She turns around and sees a smile, a reserved and handsome twitch of the lips, cross his face, and immediately, her heart constricts inside her chest. She feels the breath release from her before she even realizes she was holding it in, and she just sits there...and stares.

"You get stuck or something?" Hotch asks, and it is almost strange to hear him talk so much without rattling off facts about an Unsub. Sure, he wasn't Reid or anything of that extreme, but she just simply wasn't used to hearing him talk about something outside of one of the BAU's casefiles.

Garcia shakes her head, realizing what that must've looked like, and focuses her attention back onto his computer. Her eyebrows furrow as she scans the screen for any malfunctioning items, and tries - and _fails_ \- to ignore the feel of Hotch's light breaths on the back of her neck.

Her heart restarts itself, and begins going a million miles an hour; her fingers reciprocate this motion, moving faster.

This computer bug is more difficult than she originally thought it would be, and she purses her lips in concentration. Garcia lets out a frustrated sigh and scratches her head, being mindful of the various fuzzy ponytail holders she has holding up her hair.

"Is there really something that the great Penelope Garcia can't fix?" he asks, and his tone is playful, but not overtly so. Like he gets when he teases Reid about his hair. Garcia feels yet another shiver fall down her spine like water from a leaky faucet.

"Eh, you should really be asking the question - did the great Aaron Hotchner actually mess up his computer _this bad_? So bad that the great Penelope Garcia can't fix it? Hm. For shame, sir, for shame."

He chuckles at that, louder than she's ever heard him, and she feels the weight of where his hand sinks down on the back of her chair. His other hand braces himself against the desk, and Garcia feels like she's caged in. It's not an unpleasant feeling at all, but it is a strange one. A foreign, strange feeling that prickles the back of her neck and causes her heart to thud sporadically in her chest.

Garcia continues to click away at the screen, hoping that her reputation wouldn't be too ruined if she couldn't find out what was wrong with her boss's computer.

It's starting to look like she's never going to find out the problem, until a few mouse clicks and keyboard taps and then _presto_ , Garcia is no longer at risk of looking like a complete and utter noob in front of Hotch. She leans back just as the computer screen flickers and starts to work again, unfreezing from whatever godawful thing that had caused it.

"And there you go, Mr. Hotchner." Garcia backs up in the chair a bit, hoping that she hasn't run over his toe or anything, and looks at him.

He's given her room to get out now, moved the cage of his arms somewhere else, and a grin cracks across his face. "You're amazing, Garcia." It's said like he says anything else, utterly serious and yet she can hear the tinge of awe in his voice.

It's not the compliment that takes her off guard, but the way he's _grinning_. An actual, full-blown grin is on his features, and she finds herself lost in it. In the way that his eyes crinkle, those white teeth, the mirth on his face. It has been far too long since she's seen him smile like this. Bright, unfettered. And this has happened several times over the course of the evening. (She likes to think it's because of her, but she doubts that.)

Garcia rises from her chair, and stretches a bit. It has been a while that she's sat there, working on the computer. She looks over to the clock and sees that it's eleven thirty. She really was here late, and she thinks that maybe she needs to go over her computer skills, since obviously she should've been able to solve the problem that was Hotch's computer in under that time.

_But damn him for being so distracting!_ she thinks as she gathers her purse over her arm. He was distracting, and she was slightly rusty at working on such old systems of computers. Maybe that was why it broke down in the first place - the first death throes of a computer well-used. _It almost sounds like poetry..._ Garcia thinks, smiling to herself, pleased.

She decides not to tell him, though. She doesn't think Hotch would change his software just because it was old. The keyboard was worn-in. Obviously he's had this computer for a while. When other people were constantly upgrading their systems, he had the same one he's had for a while. She thought it said something about his character. That he wouldn't give up on something just because it was supposedly outdated. Different.

(And she wonders what that says about hers, since she practically has a excited fit every time a commercial advertising new software comes on.)

But, she digresses. She might just be looking too into things. But it's always nice to imagine various possibilities. Even if they are bizarre and unlikely.

Hotch is looking at his computer with a relieved expression. "I appreciate this, Garcia."

"No problemo, sir," she says, smiling at him, and he returns the gesture.

She starts to walk to the door, slowly, and she hears the faint thud of his footsteps behind him. If she wasn't concentrating so hard, she wouldn't have heard them at all. _Like a ninja._

Garcia arrives at the door and twists her fingers around the knob, opening it. "Anytime you have computer troubles, I'm your girl!"

Hotch smiles at that, and puts his hand on the door, opening it all the way for her. "Be safe going home. It's late."

She smiles at him, humbled by his concern. "Of course."

Garcia steps out of the door, and an emotion overcomes her. She turns back to Hotch, who is watching her protectively, as if something would happen to her as soon as she steps out of his door. Again, she feels a warmth overcome her at that notion. "You should smile more often, Hotch."

The dark haired profiler looks at her with shock, as if he wasn't expecting that. He looks lost for words, something rare for Aaron Hotchner. He only gives her a sheepish smile back, which Garcia returns with a bright grin that almost knocks him off his feet.

She shakes her head, and says, "Anyway, goodnight! Sleep well."

Hotch nods, the smile never really leaving his eyes. "You too, Garcia. Goodnight."

She shuts the door behind her and starts her walk to her car. The only thing flowing through her thoughts is the image of Hotch, his smile, his laugh, contradicting his rather serious appearance. He wasn't even in his pajamas when she came over - she guesses it was due to not wanting to look unprofessional in front of a colleague. She shakes her head as she reaches the first floor and opens the door out into the parking lot.

Walking over to her car, she unlocks it. Garcia climbs in the front seat and starts the engine. An array of indie music blares over the speakers and she turns it down before pulling out of the parking lot.

Just as she gets onto the road, she resolves something.

Garcia resolves with all her might, to try to get Hotch to smile more.

Because, frankly, someone like that needs to smile. Someone like Hotch - so good and just and _perfect_ , despite his imperfections - _deserves_ to smile.

He deserves to smile and _mean_ it.


End file.
